Lock The Door
by sunsh1ne
Summary: Two thieves get the time of their lives...or not...  one night, as they try and rob a very, ahem, strange-looking house.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Invader Zim, but if I had enough money I would totally buy it.

….

_**Lock The Door**_

_**~Prologue~**_

Vinny struggled against the bindings that held him to his chair. Blindfolded and tied up, he had been sent to this dark room, only being told "someone would be with him in a bit." That didn't ease his fears a bit. All he knew was that he had been taken.

As he strained to free his fingers, he froze as he heard a metallic squeal. A patch of light found its way through his blindfold, and he heard another clang. Suddenly, his blindness was lifted, and the cloth thrown to the floor. Vinny gasped, and squinted as he saw a bright light assault his eyes.

"Well hello, Mr. Juan. Can you see me?" a voice said, smooth and unconcerned.

Vinny widened his eyes. "You coward! Tyin' me up like a little -" he said, spitting a stream of curses at whoever had spoken.

"Language, Mr. Juan." Vinny stopped long enough to hear the man- the voice was definitely male- and paused.

"W-what have yeh done?" he said, his voice almost quavering. From behind the light, the man laughed.

"I asked you a question first, Mr. Juan."

Vinny paused. He didn't trust this little mama's boy one bit. Still, he had him tied to a chair.

"No… I can't…" he said, submissive, as the outlook for him wasn't good. Vinny squirmed- was it getting hot in there?

The man laughed once again. "Good," he said, "now we can begin."

Vinny panicked for a minute, thinking this might be an interrogation for his small crime streak. "I didn't do nothing! You can't trace me back to anything!"

The man paused. "We caught you coming out of someone's house with weapons," he said in a monotone.

Vinny paused, and then his eyes widened in fear. "Yo-you know? About that? … Don't remind me of that 'orrible place… it's not good fer my health…"

The man gave no indication that he had heard at first, then lowered the light from Vinny's eyes. Vinny whimpered, all tough-guy attitude gone from his eyes.

"D-don't remind me… of that 'orrible house…"

The man said nothing, but sat down at a table that Vinny hadn't noticed before. "I need you to tell me what happened that night," he said.

Vinny yelled, regaining the wall around his emotions. "I ain't tellin' you, sir! I ain't need no psyche-whatever damage! That house is deranged! Stay away from it if yeh know what's good fer you!"

The man laid his hand down on the table. "Mr. Juan, this is going to be a very long night if you don't tell me what went on."

Vinny trembled, staring at the shadowy figure across from him. "Then we ain't goin' to have a short night, eh?" he said, growling under his breath.

As he looked away from the shadow of the man, his jaw was grabbed by a meaty hand that suddenly appeared. "Hey, man, I ain't gonna talk about that 'orrible place!" Vinny shouted, back arching with surprise.

"My name is Harold Watcher. I have served in the Marines for 12 years, and fought in many wars you do not know even existed. I work now in Area 51," the man said.

"And I need to know what you found in that house."

…

(As a notice to all of you, previously this story had really long and winding author's notes that I've cut considerably.)


	2. Chapter 1: The Mission

A/N: Whoo! Caps lock cannot express the full extent of my fanfictionfangirlyness. (It's short again. I apologize.)

…

_**Lock the Door**_

_**-Chapter One: The Mission-**_

Vinny froze, eyes trained on Harold's shadowy outline.

"Look, pretty boy…" he said, fidgeting with the thick linen straps that were wrapped tightly over his hands. "I ain't a Marine, a government worker or nothin', but if I know one thing, it's that Area 51 is justa load'a garbage. So yous walk in 'ere, tie me up and tell me Area 51 is real?"

Harold smirked, or at least the outline of his face moved.

"Mr. Juan, I didn't say it was real. I merely said I worked there."

Vinny scrunched up his face. "You know how to make a guy feel welcome… Harry whatever. You strap me to a chair, blind me, bring up painful mem'ries, and confuse me to no end, yous do."

Harold laughed again, this time not as friendly. "Back to my question. You seem to be avoiding them," he said, extending an arm out to someone behind him. Vinny turned his head as far as he could, making out a large, muscular man crossing over to the other side of the table.

"Let's see if we can make our… guest," Harold said, "a bit more _comfortable_."

Vinny yelled out again, seeing as the man was coming back towards him. He bared his teeth, ready to fight however he could, with his hands tied behind his back, but the man just untied his hands and his feet. Vinny glanced back down at his free limbs.

"Oh…well, thank yous."

Harold's mouth outline moved again in a smirk. "Now, Mr. Juan. Will you answer my question? I won't completely let you go until you tell me."

Vinny took a side look at the dark room that surrounded him. "I don't even know why a guy from that alien joint is comin' to talk to me."

Harold's outline leaned down on the table. "We'll be here all night, Mr. Juan."

Vinny squirmed again in his seat, but made no movement to leave. If they were going to torture him or kill him, he would be dead or in serious pain by now. You learned that from experience in the crime business. This Harry guy seemed okay… but seriously shady. Figuratively and literally.

Vinny hung his head in a painful defeat. "We was both actin' by ourselves, no one hired us. We was partners, and we were doin' a hit on Mid-City. But the cops was onto us, yous see?"

Harold leaned back in his seat for the long tale that would lead into this little, dark room.

….

"_We targeted the 'burbs…"_

Vinny and Sergio were ducked together inside a small alley, a small notebook spread out between the two of them. The noises of the busy city of 2034 echoed around them, while they plotted the next innocent people to be victimized.

"I think we should leave the urban area, Vinny," Sergio said, shooing away a dog that had wandered into the alley. "The cops would realize somethin's up if we stay in one area too long."

Vinny frowned, then studied the small map that was drawn on the notebook. "You know what the cops like, eh, Sergio? We'll cross tha' off, then." He scratched off the small area that read "CITY", and then moved his pencil over the larger spot that read "SUBURBS."

"Eh, Sergio. Wha' about the suburbs? There's a different set a' cops there. We could do another raid there. Not to mention there's lotsa sectors. Different cops for each 30 miles… we could easily grab a loada stuff there!" Vinny said, lowering his voice as not to be heard by the couple by the entrance to their alley.

Sergio rubbed his stubble-covered chin. Looking at these two, you couldn't tell they were big-time criminals. Two middle-aged, average men walking around Mid-Central Park? Not an unusual sight. Vinny was wearing a black jacket, ragged around the cuffs but still warm and wearable. Sergio was decked out in a bit more impressive clothes, wearing an expensive-looking blazer and leather gloves. It's not that hard to mistake them for ordinary citizens.

But by knowing them, you would know that they were incredible thieves. Never being caught, only being looked at twice by the cops for having out-of-date license plate tabs. Absolutely the type of people you wish you would go to jail for being _so horrible_, yet decent at the same time. They were not a very advanced or fancy partnership, however.

"It's a good idea," Sergio said. "What sector first, then? When would we raid?"

Vinny flipped the notebook to a different page, uncovering a blank page. He scrawled "DETAILS" on the top with the worn pencil, looking back up at Sergio. Sergio looked at the map and took it out of Vinny's hands.

" _But… that house wasn't the first to be hit. We started in Sector 2."_

Sergio flipped back to the "DETAILS" page and scribbled down a list of sectors. He gave it back to Vinny. "I think that'd be a good list to follow. We would start in Sect. 2, and end in Sect. 8," he said, Vinny's eyes scanning the neat handwriting.

"Sounds great," Vinny said. He wrote down some fine points, taking care to make sure if this book was stolen, it could not be interpreted as a crime plan. Sergio waited, and looked out the alleyway entrance as a young girl ran by.

"Help Operation: Head Pigeons! Stop this horrible disease from spreading in our schools!" she yelled, an armful of flyers let loose on the wind trailing behind her.

Sergio smirked as she ran by, tripping on the concrete and watching as her flyers blew away on the cold January wind.

"Sergio… I think we have a plan," Vinny said, grinning and handing the notebook back to Sergio. He flipped through the pages and played with the pencil between his fingers. He flipped to the map and shaded in the city.

"We've dried this place up of its resources," he said, frowning. "We're going where there's more water at the waterhole." Sergio finished his shading, and looked up with a triumphant smile on his face.

Vinny paused. "You know, I'm glad I'm a literal partner-in-crime with you, Serg. That 3 years of police work in Sector 12 was good for you." He smiled and stood up.

Sergio stood up, and they both began walking down the street, ducking out of the alley as if nothing had ever occurred there.

"We have a plan," Vinny repeated, muttering to Sergio under his breath as he parted ways with him to walk to his Upper City apartment.

Sergio smiled.

"We have a mission."

"_Of course, the real fun didn't start until we got to Sector 5…"_

…

If you don't see the reference I'm going to blow up your computer.

-UpsidePickle


	3. Chapter 2: Sector Five

A/N: Operation: Doom commercials started this week. I wanna see one! Are they just on Nicktoons, 'cause I sat through TUFF Puppy to see one, but I didn't!… I sat through TUFF PUPPY! GRRAAAHHHHH!

On another unrelated note, the actual crime plans may not be great… I'm **not**, uh… a criminal myself, so I… wouldn't know. (paranoid look :p) Also, the misspellings and grammar mistakes in Sergio and Vinny's talking is intentional. They have an accent.

Thank you to the lucky Tigerblossom, for reviewing. :D YOU WIN... something…!

*rummages through drawers*

(This one is a bit more lighthearted than the rest of the story is going to be. A warning.)

**Disclaimer:** I OWN NOOOTTHHHHIIINNNNGGGGG. (Except all the pamphlet names, Vinny, Harold, Sergio, both their accents, a computer, Word, Internet access, a FanFiction account, a deluded mind… okay, so I own some things.)

…

_**Lock the Door**_

_**Chapter 2: Sector Five**_

"_Of course, the real fun didn't start until we got to Sector 5…"_

Vinny shot a look back at the cashier at the restaurant, suspicious. When the pimply boy didn't give him a second glance, he relaxed and walked back to the far side of MacMeaties.

"You got the pork shake, righ'?" Vinny said, handing the soggy paper bag to his friend, Sergio. He sat down at the other side of the table, making sure they were not recognized from the Wanted posters that were plastered all around Mid-City.

Sergio scrunched up his nose at the smell emitting from the bag. "Yes, but I think they gave us dead squirrel instead."

Vinny shook his head. "Yeh know, I've been wond'rin. Why do we meet up in the worst places? Firs' it was that alley… WHY we went in there I don' know... and then we make plans in a tree, and that giant rubber pig…"

Sergio raised his eyebrows and pushed away the so-called "food."

"We do that because it would look strange for us to go to impressive places. When someone shows up with a lot of money, and there is a string of robberies in the area… it doesn't take long for the cops to put two and two together," he said, looking Vinny right in the eyes. "They're smarter than you give them credit for, Vinny."

Vinny slumped in his chair. "Still doesn' mean we have to eat this garbage."

Sergio hesitated for a moment. "You're right, let's get out of here," he said.

They strolled out of the fast food restaurant, subtly dropping the offending bag into a nearby trash can.

"Yeh know, I saw the weirdest thing in there," Vinny said as they walked down the street, "There was this… green kid working behind the counter. I think he was on a career day or sumthin', because he was talking about promotions and trying to figure out how it all worked... but he was _green_." he looked behind him, as if the boy were following him at that very moment.

Sergio rolled his eyes. "You're imagining things, Vin. I didn't see a green kid."

Vinny frowned. "Well, of course. Yeh were too busy ogling at your object of undivided worship 'cross the street. Count Cocofang?" He grinned, reacting to Sergio's shocked face.

"I…used to as a kid! It was nothing… just a phase!"

"Of course."

Sergio pursed his lips and made an uncomfortable-looking face. "Do I need to remind you of the Chicky Licky incident?"

It was Vinny's turn to look shocked. "Still, we got the cash register," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Sergio chuckled and looked up at the sky. It was usually polluted, but today it was a pleasant red color. Of course, 20 odd years ago it was blue. That always confused him. How did the sky change color, anyways? He shook his head to rid him of the thought.

"We planned on hitting a house this evenin', Vin." Sergio casually dropped. Vinny stopped for a moment as if to gather his thoughts.

"We did, didn' we?" he said, catching up with his friend. "Wha' part?"

Sergio nodded to his partner's coat pocket. "You have the notebook." Vinny glanced down, and took out the book and pencil.

He flipped through the pages, still walking down the busy sector's street. He reached a page that was drawn over a month ago, the label "DETAILS" still preserved. He skimmed over the extra tidbits, searching for the bit of information on Sector Five he had scribbled down.

"We didn't say where exactly it was gonna happen," Vinny said, nose stuck inside the small paper notebook. "But says here that Sect'r Five has one of the best police forces of the 12."

Sergio made a face. "That's going to complicate things." Vinny nodded, agreeing.

"We should prob'ly get some more info before we do anything." He said, looking around for a library or an information center. He spotted one, miraculously, across the street. He made a motion to grab it, but Sergio grabbed Vinny by the collar quite roughly, and dragged him away from the path he was walking.

"We don't want to do that, Vinny."

Vinny groaned, pushing away Sergio's hands. "Yer so paranoid, Sergio. They're not going to recognize us! The posters are only around in Mid-City and certain police stations, remember?" he said, explaining.

Sergio glanced worriedly around. "Fine. You go in, then," he muttered, releasing his death grip on Vinny's jacket. Vinny grumbled and straightened his jacket, then marched purposefully towards the busy hub.

Sergio watched as his friend walked into the building, suspicious. Civilians may not notice something familiar about his face, but still the threat was there.

He sat down on a bench, still not willing to walk into that deathtrap of an information center. Sergio waited patiently, reading the ads on the sides of the vehicles passing by.

_What About The Bus?_

…

Harold raised his eyebrows at the last statement. Mr. Juan had gone into a public building undisguised, and without any cover? And his colleague had waited outside, _also_ without any cover?

Vinny shifted in his seat. "I know what yer thinkin', Watcher. We was stupid to get separated, but what I found in there was the best info we was hoping to get."

…

Vinny snuck through the sea of people that were apparently protesting about some disease or whatever, to a rack of pamphlets about various things around the city or sector. He skimmed through them, glancing quickly at titles.

_Dealing With Loss_

_Understanding Today's Technology_

_Classes at the Sector Five Community Center_

_How To Get Rid Of Lice_

_The Truth About 2012 _(That one was a bit outdated.)

_Hydrophobia- The Fear Of Water And How To Cope_

_Aliens Are Real!_

_Map of The City Center Mall_

_Map of the Parking Garage at the City Center Mall_

_How To Deal With Rat-People_

_What To Do If You Have A Stalker_

_Dealing With The Paranoid Feeling That You Are Actually In A Character In A Story Written By Someone Who Loves Torturing Their Fictional Characters_

_The Other Feeling That You Are Really A Russian Geezer With A Fetish For Pigs, Anime, And Mayo_

_Map Of Sector Five_

Ah, the last one looked promising.

Vinny took the map, and flipped it open. Inside there was not only a map, but detailed descriptions of the neighborhoods and businesses that were inside. It was actually sort of creepy.

However unnerving it was, Vinny grinned and parted the waves of yelling people to get back to his waiting friend. Pushing open the grimy glass doors, he scrambled across the busy street and sat next to a shocked Sergio.

"Did you just run across two lanes of rush-hour traffic?" he asked.

Deep breath. "Yeh."

Sergio shook his head and grunted derisively. "You're going to kill yourself someday , you know that? You could have _waited _to cross the street like everyone else."

Vinny's deep breaths became less heavy, and he gulped and spoke back. "I guess… it didn' occur to me?"

Sergio sighed. "Anyways… find anything?"

"Yup," Vinny exclaimed proudly, as he handed the flimsy paper to Sergio. Sergio took it, squinted, and held it up to Vinny's face.

"This wasn't exactly what I was… uh, hoping for," he said. "We already have a map."

Vinny frowned. "Look on the inside."

Sergio raised an eyebrow, then wet a finger and opened it up. He glanced at the map, eyes taking in the glossy pictures. "What is this, I don't even- wait, whoa!" he said, voice turned into surprise as he opened the other flap.

His eyes widened as he read all the information. His eyes glossed over, and he held out the map and pointed to it. "This is awesome."

Vinny grinned, and took back the pamphlet. "The best part is, even the neighborhoods are covered. It shows the security, the pollution level, the elevation… everything."

Sergio laughed, gleefully taking back the map. "That's so stupid of them. Someone's going to get robbed!"

Vinny's eyes darkened. "That's exactly it."

…

Harold, fingertips together, again lifted an eyebrow. "How did you get the information that led you to that exact house?"

Vinny's mind was sent hurtling back to the present, inside a dark room with a strange and probably crazy man, a gorilla of a guard, and virtually no air conditioning. "We weren't picky about finding something _exactly_," he said, uncomfortable again.

"Was it random, then?" Harold inquired, a curious tone creeping into his voice. His figure seemed to lean forward. Was he interested in this?

"No. You need to be pretty organized when you're criminals."

Harold's outline looked slightly confused again. "What did you do?"

Vinny shifted again. "It's a criminal… thing, I guess, but there's a couple different way to spot a suitable house or business to rob…"

"First, you need to see whether the people who live or work there have a good amount of money. You wouldn't rob a homeless beggar, would you? No money there, eh?" Vinny explained.

He wasn't so sure he should be telling anyone (a _government_ person of all people) about this, but in a perverse sort of way, it's like he _had_ to.

"Second, you have to find out if they have a good security system," he continued. "There's usually a sign on a window or on the lawn that says 'Protected by Membrane Systems' or summat. It's no good getting snagged by the cops. Obviously…"

"Third, the home/ business has to be empty or on'y a few people around… are the lights off, store or restaurant almost deserted of customers?"

"Fourth, is the neighborhood a particularly _safe _neighborhood?..."

…

"_We looked over every angle…"_

Vinny and Sergio spent most of the day scribbling in their notebook, plotting out the best places to hit, and avoiding the "safe" neighborhoods. They scrutinized every little aspect of that certain sector, down the last square foot.

They also discovered a place that was perfect for that particular night.

"Hey… Vin." Sergio mumbled as he shook his friend's sleeping form. They were in a Bloaty's fast-food joint, with the remnants of a delicious… and very greasy dinner strewn over paper plates.

The notebook and map were also laid out across the table, map's edges slick with pizza grease. The pencil and a borrowed pen were on top, bearing the ruins of grease as well. Their booth's table was covered in papers, pizza grease and the torso of a very worn-out Vinny.

"Vin!" Sergio spoke again, as the man groaned and curled up away from Sergio's hand. He sighed.

"Why is it always _me_ that's waking _you_ up?" he mumbled as he stretched across the table and shook Vinny again, harder this time. Vinny snorted and glanced around with a bleary "huh?"

"Finally." Sergio said, and cleared the immediate area in front of him. "Vinny? Vincent Juan!" he almost yelled, trying to wake his friend.

"Ah, stop, I know you wan' me teh get up…" Vinny groaned as he rolled back up into a sitting position. "I jus' don' feel like it…"

Sergio growled. "We've got a plan to _do_ something, finally. Don't waste it by sleeping through the entire thing."

Vinny shot up in his seat. "We've actually got a plan?" He looked eagerly at the notebook, seeing Sergio's neat handwriting. He slid the book over to himself, skimming through the lines of text and occasionally pored over the map. Sergio watched as he did this, _miraculously awake_ now.

"You just let me do all the work, didn't you?" Sergio asked with a scathing tone.

Vinny looked up at his companion from the map. "Noooo! Why wou- alright," he relented, after seeing Sergio's unbelieving gaze. "I did, but on'y 'cause yer a much better planner than I am. I'm more of an action man!"

Vinny gave an unconvincing smile, but Sergio still unconsciously forgave him. "Fine," he groused. "But you're doing the main bre- I mean the main tap."

Vinny smiled and gave back the notebook. "Sorry," he muttered, and reached for his Diet Poop. He sucked on the straw and looked over the map again. "Hey, you circled this part'a the sector. Is that it?"

Sergio peered over the top of the map. Vinny laid it down across the table, and pointed at a thick black pen mark that circled around a certain block of houses. "Righ' there."

"Yes," Sergio answered, and laid a finger on a certain box of text in the corner. It was attached to the certain area that he had circled. "However, there is a little bit of a problem."

Vinny followed his finger, and read the small box. It didn't bring great news.

_**An interesting bit of trivia: Sector 5's most famous celebrity, Professor Membrane, lives in this neighborhood! Yes, that Professor Membrane! Founder of Membrane Industries, curer of many diseases, and inventor of SUPER TOAST!, Prof. Membrane lives here with his two children. **_

_**If you don't know him, you need professional help. Go find some, unless you are too stupid to do even that.**_

_**FIIIIIIND SOOOOME!**_

"Hey, you eat Super Toast at breakfast a lot!" Vinny exclaimed, completely missing the point.

Sergio growled, then stabbed the paper with his finger again. "No! Well, yes, I love Super Toast…it's great, but… ANYWAYS!" he continued, "He lives right in the 'butter zone.' If we go there, there's a high chance most homes in that area are protected by his systems. However good someone is at computer hacking, it's impossible. Those things are untouchable."

Vinny groaned. "Meaning… that getting anything will be a real hassle."

Sergio nodded. "Exactly. Also, he probably has high security around his house. That security could also stretch…"

"Aroun' the neighborhood…" Vinny finished with a worried look on his face, which suddenly switched to confusion. "Wait. That place's labeled as "unprotected." How could Prof. Membrane live there, but have no security?

Sergio blanched. "Lemme see…" he mumbled as he grabbed the map. He scanned through the list… and found that his companion was right. "That's so weird."

Vinny scratched his stubble-covered chin, looking up at the fluorescent lights above him. It was late; all the children had gone home and were probably in bed by now. Bloaty's was deserted, save for an asleep, pimply teenager at the front counter. In fact, he looked exactly like the teenager from MacMeaties…

"Sergio, Don' look now, but I think that acne boy is followin' us!" Vinny whispered loudly. Sergio groaned again and laid his head on the table.

"We need to find out why it's labeled as unprotected," Sergio thought aloud, voice muffled by the table. "Is there some reason that it's like tha-"

"I could help, you know."

Sergio whipped his head up, and looked at the foot of their table. Standing there was a strange and slightly scary little girl, with a skeletal necklace and dark purple, spiky hair. She held a bat behind her back, but that wasn't what made her scary. Her entire aura radiated "death" or "maiming"… even though she couldn't have been over 10, two fully grown men were apprehensive. That was the scary part.

"My name's Gaz," she drawled in a monotone voice. "I heard you talking about Professor Membrane."

….

_A/N: And no, I am NOT a Russian geezer who has a fetish for pigs, anime and mayo. The one above that? Yes. Oh, so much yes._

-UpsidePickle


	4. Chapter 3: Scary Girls and Revised Plots

**A/N**: Happy first update of 2011!

Hey, guess what? I'm actually updating a story! Unheard of, right? Thank you to my buds **Soulstealer** and **werd** for reviewing! Also thanks to **Black Rose Everlasting** for favoriting me. You guys are awesome!

~Like it, love it, or rip out your PAK to end the suffering, but please read and review.~

…..

_**Lock the Door**_

_**Chapter 3: Scary Girls and Revised Plots**_

…

"_My name's Gaz," she drawled in a monotone voice. "I heard you talking about Professor Membrane."_

…..

Harold brought a hand to his mouth to stop from laughing sharply. Vinny gave him a strange look, then understood. "Yeh, I know it's hard to believe that a little girl scared us," he said. "But you weren't there, were yeh?"

Harold lowered his hand and made a poorly concealed snort. "Go on, then, Mr. Juan. What happened after you met this… _Gaz_?"

Vinny looked to the floor. "Sergio was a bit skeptical…"

…..

"_-but rightly so, I guess."_

Sergio stared at the… Gaz girl. Vinny joined in, both slightly stunned by the sudden appearance. Sergio got his wits together a bit faster, however, and spoke to her. "Ah, sorry little miss. I don't think you could help us with our…uh, problem." He looked around the restaurant. "Where are your parents?"

Apparently this was not a smart thing to say, for Gaz's eye twitched, and she brought her bat to the front of her person. "They're not here," she mumbled loud enough for them both to hear, "but I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself, you know." She pounded the bat into her hand, and Sergio scooted a miniscule bit away from her.

"O-kay, then… what can we… do for you?" Vinny said, eyeing the aluminum bat. Gaz smirked and pointed her bat at the the sacked-out cashier.

"I'm bored, want pizza, and I don't feel like hitting Simon with the bat again. He's gotten me kicked out more than once. Since I'm bored, I need something to do," she explained, slightly opening an eye. "Obviously. I heard you two talking about Professor Membrane. I know a thing or two about him. What do you two morons need to know, anyways?"

"Hey, we're not morons, littl-" Vinny started to protest, but was cut off by the look that she gave him.

Sergio shook his head. "We don't have any time to spare, uh, Gaz. We need to get going, _don't we, Vin_?" Vinny looked confused for a second, then understood.

"Yeh, we need t' go… somewhere." He stood up and slid the map and notebook to closer to his pockets.

Gaz swung the bat towards Vinny again, this time very close to his face. He went cross-eyed as the bat almost touched his nose. "I didn't do this happily, y'know. I just did it out of pity," she growled, and poked it closer to his face as punctuation. Sergio frowned and pushed the bat out of the way.

"Look, kid," he began to say, but Gaz instead swung the bat close to his face.

"No, YOU look! I'm so bored I'd be drinking bleach right now if I wasn't here at Bloaty's. So you're going to tell me what's going on so I won't _kill _myself, and I won't think of you as complete idiots. If you don't know anything about Prof. Membrane, there's gotta be something wrong with your heads."

Both Sergio and Vinny were slightly struck dumb at her exclamation. Vinny sat back down, frowning and glaring at his friend on the other side of the booth. "Now wha', smart guy?" he whispered as Gaz pointed her bat back and forth between the two of them, as if trying to decide who she should maim first.

"She's completely insane, Vin. If we don't give her what she wants, I really think she might take out her boredom on us," Sergio whispered back, taking a quick glance at the gothic girl beside them. She stared back, still whipping the aluminum stick around. "Should we humor her?"

Vinny gave her a sideways glance. "It's our best bet…"he whispered back, still nervously eyeing the bat. He whipped around to face Gaz. "Fine. We'll take a lis'n," he said, and grinned unconvincingly.

"Now," Sergio added, "put down the bat,"

Gaz smiled.

….

Vinny, back in the chair in the dark room, paused. Harold cocked his head. "Mr. Juan?" he prodded, laying his hands on the table.

Vinny let out a breath and tuned his gaze to the floor. "That kid had one of the creepiest smiles, Watcher. You'd think a ten-year-old girl would have a sweet smile, yeh? No. Yer wrong, it was terrifyin'. And I don' get scared often."

Harold smirked again, and put an elbow on the table, propping up his chin. "I understand. Now… this Gaz girl actually sounds familiar to me. Do I know the name from somewhere?"

Vinny snapped his head up and looked at his captor. "Yeh, yeh. She was Gaz Membrane, yeh know? One of Prof. Membrane's kids."

Harold's shadowy outline didn't move, but the sharp intake of breath told Vinny that he was surprised. "Oh yeh. When she told us that, then it got int'restin'…"

…

Sergio's eyebrows shot up into his mess of black hair. "Professor Membrane is _your_ father?" he asked, leaning on an elbow and drawing patterns in the grease that covered the table. Gaz sat on the other side, next to a visibly sweating Vinny.

"Yeah," she mumbled, reaching for a leftover piece of their pepperoni pizza. "Though he's never home. You could hardly call me his _daughter_."

Vinny scooted away an inch and looked on with distaste as Gaz ate the last slice of _HIS_ pizza. "Is that why you're here with nothing but a bat for protection? We could be… homicidal maniacs for all you know. Or maybe we torture bunnies and nail them to walls!" he said.

Gaz shrugged. "Better company then my brother."

Vinny frowned. A girl shouldn't be walking out late on a clear night like this. Too many- "Wait, your brother? Shouldn't he be with yeh, then?" he wondered.

Gaz groaned. "My brother Dib is pretty much the worst thing that could ever happen to me, homicidal maniacs included," she growled. "He's so obsessed with his paranormal junk, following _Zim_ around everywhere, bugging me about _fairies_ and stupid _ghosts_ and stupid _Bigfoot_…" She took her mini-tantrum out on the pizza, biting off the top layer of cheese and grumbling the entire time.

Sergio looked hurt. "I like Bigfoot," he mumbled, scribbling a **Z?** in the grease.

Gaz gave him a look and went back to torturing the cheesy slice. "So, since you two weirdos apparently need to rob somethi-"

She was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Vinny, who shot to the other end of the seat. "Hey, don't say things like that, we weren't going t-"

Gaz pointed her half-eaten slice at him, then drew his eyes down to the map. It had writing and scribbles all over it, saying things like "SECURITY: MINIMAL" and "RICH PART OF TOWN."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not stupid."

Vinny and Sergio stared at her for a second, and then folded up the offending pamphlet. "We weren't going to be doing anything of the sort," Sergio spoke in an innocent tone. Gaz scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"If you two idiots try to rob our house, let's just say I've made some… special adjustments to the security," she grinned, watching the two men's expressions change from annoyance, to thought, to horror.

"Well, we ain't stupid either," Vinny responded, recovering from the mental images. "We don't go around robbing houses. We make our money hones'ly," Vinny smiled unconvincingly again.

"I won't tell," Gaz mumbled through her pizza. "Robberies make for interesting news on WHUH."

Vinny and Sergio looked at each other nervously, knowing that this insane girl was very unlikely to help them in any way. Not to mention she was discussing it so loosely… in a restaurant, however empty it may be, and however asleep the night employee was!

….

Vinny opened his eyes, realizing he had them closed throughout his tale. He let out a huff. "Well, we got some useful stuff out of her, at leas' what we could make out of it."

Harold looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked curiously, Vinny realizing that he had taken off his jacket. It _was_ stuffy in there.

"I mean that most of wha' she said was about her GameSlave, her brother… Dig or Did or summat - her brother's "friend," how Simon usually got her orders wrong and mixed them up with somebody named Gir… all bunkum," Vinny recalled. "She le' slip a little about her dad, tho, that was useful. A little about the neighborhood…"

Harold leaned onto the table, putting his fingertips together. "So you're getting closer to this house, now?"

Vinny sighed softly, clenching his left hand into a fist. "That horrible house. Yeh, we're gettin' very…very…close."

…

At the end of their meal, Sergio and Vinny watched as Gaz strode out of Bloaty's. "She was strange," Sergio remarked. Vinny nodded, and laid out the map again on the greasy table.

It was now covered with even more scribbles and notes than before, all corrected in bright red marker. A single block of houses was circled, a cul-de-sac with a noticeable _lack_ of security. Yes, the people there weren't as rich as some other… _clientele…_of theirs_, _yet it was the most promising. The police station was miles from that spot, and crime was rampant there anyways. They would hardly be noticed.

"So, we got a target?" Vinny inquired, smoothing down the edges and creases of their treasure trove of info.

Sergio dipped his head, turning the map around to take another look. "That cul-de-sac there?" He pointed at the circled area, tiny in comparison to the size of the map.

Vinny grunted a 'yes,' and uncapped the thick red marker. He circled a small square a hand's length away from their target. "And righ' there's the police station."

Sergio made a face and scooted the map towards him again. "It seems a bit close, don't you think?" he asked, stretching his fingers between the two circled buildings.

Vinny sighed, and pointed the marker at the cul-de-sac. "Yeh, I know, yer right, but that Profess'r's house is farther to the other side. If we was any farther away, that girl told us that her father's security stretched 3 blocks…at leas'."

Sergio groaned. "Why is this so hard?" He laid his head down on the table yet again, and scratched another **Z? **into the hardening pizza sauce. He sighed, and sat up. "Well, we should do recon before anything else. Who knows what sort of security goes on here?"

Vinny propped his elbow on the table, brown eyes staring at the paper in front of them. It was lucky there was nobody there - at least there and awake. Seeing two grown men sitting at Bloaty's was, quite frankly, a creepy thing to see. Not to mention the heinous crimes those men were about to commit.

Vinny's leg bounced up and down, due to the restless nature of its owner. He sighed again. "We left our car at Sect'r Sev'n," he said timidly. "How are we going to do recon without a car? I don't think a taxi would drive us randomly around a neighborhood. People wou' get suspicious!"

Sergio chuckled nervously. Vinny shot him a scathing look, catching on.

"And no, I'm not doing the _rainbow stroll_ thing again. It was mentally scarrin' enough the firs' time."

Sergio smirked and lifted up his head, enjoying his joke. "I thought you did a convincing job."

Vinny reeled, making a disgusted noise. "You sick-"

Sergio lifted up his hands in a mock surrender. "Fine, fine," he relented, turning his face away and widening his eyes at what he saw. "Hey, they have that arcade game you used to love."

Vinny frowned and craned his neck to see. "Zap 'Em?" he asked, seeing the flashing screen of an old arcade machine. He returned to his original position. "I heard a kid got stuck'n there…"

Sergio grimaced. "That's a little bit disturbing," he croaked out after a while. "Did they eve-"

"Nope," Vinny interrupted. "He's still in there." He gazed at the machine, as if the boy's spirit would suddenly fly out and reveal itself. Vinny watched as the game seemed to shake slightly…

He shook his head quickly. Probably just the light. "A'yways…" he continued, picking back up his Diet Poop Cola. "We could prob'ly act like some homeless guys."

Sergio gave him a strange look, but Vinny just raised an eyebrow and pointed at the circle.

"There's plenty of homeless bums 'round 'ere," he explained.

Sergio groaned. "This is why I usually take care of planning, correct?" he asked sarcastically, keeping a straight face. He exhaled and slid the closed notebook towards him. He picked it up and flipped it open to a new, blank page. He grabbed the pencil and scrawled something down.

"I think our best bet would be to wait until morning," he suggested, keeping his eye trained on the yellow memo pad. "But still… our problem doesn't go away."

Vinny rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It _is_ late. We could sneak aroun' instead of tryin' to blend in. We'd get more work done, anyways." Sergio paused, then wrote another bit on the pad, still not looking at his companion.

"Maybe. We should get going soon if we're going to do anything tonight."

….

Harold raised a hand to stop Vinny mid-sentence. "Wait, wait. You said that the house was close."

Said criminal frowned. "Do yeh wanna hear the res', or should I jus' confuse yeh by skippin' over everythin'?"

Harold raised his hands and dipped his head, letting Vinny continue. "We event'lly decided to do a little sneaky recon…"

….

"…_but that's when things took a turn for the, er, strange."_

Heading back to the ratty, cheap apartments that they had temporarily set up base in, they went to their separate spaces.

Vinny unlocked his door and stepped into Apt. 207 in the complex. He closed the door behind him, feeling the lock click safely into place. He stretched out to reach for the light switch and flipped it up. The light flickered on, and the…erm, glory of his living space showed.

In the dingy space, there were only a few rooms. The living room held only a small folding table with two chairs to match, all covered in papers and notes. A television, a small, black-and-white but miraculously working thing, was set on a small wooden table in the corner. A framed picture of a monkey hung on the wall. Vinny hated it, but apparently some genius had super-glued it to the plaster.

The kitchen wasn't much better. Many various dirty dishes sat unwashed in the sink, and the countertops telling the same story. The toaster and and microwave were slightly outdated and had not been cleaned for some time. The oven had almost never been used in Vinny's stay at the place.

Vinny passed through the two rooms, throwing his jacket over the back of one of the chairs. He yawned and headed to the small bedroom that was at the end of a short hallway. Flipping on the switch in that room, he could make out the one-person bed and the wooden dresser that came with the place. Vinny rubbed his eye, but knew that he couldn't fall asleep at such an important time.

He opened the top drawer of his dresser, glancing out the window that was on the closest wall. Down below, he saw a red car, with a small group of friends getting out and talking. Vinny heard snippets of their conversation while changing into a new, dark-colored shirt. His red tee had been dropped ungracefully on the floor.

As he changed he overheard the people talking; out of a tired curiosity he listened in.

"-Yeah, really liked the music-"

"-Can't understand the ending at ALL, was he stuck in limbo or not?-"

"-Geonardio DiKardio was SO perfect for that role-"

"-That van fell for, like, half of the entire thing-"

"HANS FLIPPIN' ZIMMER!-"

Vinny grinned twistedly. Of course. It was probably that new movie that came out. Deception or whatever. Not that HE'D get to see it. No, he was too busy defying the American law system, and not reaping the benefits…

Vinny sighed. He sometimes wondered why he did this. He was missing out on all the good times that other people seemed to have. Don't get him wrong, he liked working with Sergio and everything, but crime really wasn't his first choice of work.

He finished dressing and closed the dresser. He examined the getup in a dirty mirror propped up on a wall. He was clad in a dark-colored hoodie with baggy, also dark-colored pants. It wasn't a really flattering image for a 30-year-old man, but still… it got sneaky recon operations done.

Vinny also knelt on the floor and reached under his bed. Feeling around, he smiled and pulled out a small black case. Putting in a small code, the top clicked open, and nestled inside was a shiny black pistol. A .25 caliber with a nice weight to it, the pocket pistol was a perfect tool for his job.

Vinny just hoped he'd never have to use it.

…..

Harold interrupted again. "So you _were_ in possession of a weapon?" he asked seriously, putting his fingertips together again.

Vinny nodded, averting his eyes from the shadowy figure. "Yeh, I did. But don' get me wrong, I jus' was usin' it fer self-defense."

Harold, again, raised an eyebrow. "_Did_ you use this weapon?"

Vinny grunted. "Don' get me off-track, _Harry. _Jus' lis'n."

…..

Vinny strode out of the apartment, having the gun concealed inside his jacket safely. No outward appearance. He waited in the complex's lobby for Sergio to come. To bide his time he went through a small checklist in his mind.

_Dark clothing? Check._

_Gun? Check._

_Plans hidden safely? Check._

_Plans memorized? Check._

_Location memorized? Check._

_Flashlight? Pretty stupid way to sneak around, but check._

_Sergio needs to bring his hacking equipment. He's the tech guy. For recon, we might need to disable someone's security ahead of time._

After a minute, Sergio appeared out of the elevator. He walked over to Vinny purposefully. "You got everything?" he asked quietly, as to not make the ever-paranoid desk clerk wary.

Vinny nodded. He patted the part of his coat where the concealed weapon was. Sergio turned his attention to the glass doors ahead of him and smiled. "Yeh got yer equipment?" Vinny asked also, frowning slightly.

Sergio took off in a stride towards the front door. Vinny followed quickly behind, dashing through the clear doors. When they got outside onto the quiet street, Sergio nodded. He glanced quickly at his wrist to check his watch. The small Indiglo face read 11:17. A great time for the night owls to go to bed. Their timing would be perfect!

Sergio looked back up at the street. "Were we going to catch a cab?" he asked, furrowing his brow. Vinny checked up and down the street, then mentally checking a map of where they were.

"I act'lly think we migh' have ter. Or steal a car," he joked, pointing a thumb at the red car he had seen pull up earlier. Sergio smiled slightly and put a hand to his chin.

"I've always had this theory that cabbies can smell out people wanting a ride. Good time to test it out, I guess," he wondered aloud. He inhaled deeply, then put two fingers to his mouth and blew.

_**SKREEEEEEEE!**_

As soon as that ear-splitting whistle reverberated around in Vinny's skull, a taxi came screeching into place in front of them. A cloud of smoke wafted from the tires, and the car's whining motor told them that he had come a long way from where he originally was.

"Get in!" the cab driver demanded, sounding irritable.

Sergio clamped a hand on his mouth to stop from laughing, while Vinny just sort of stared with his mouth hanging limply open. "Well..I guess…my theory's… true!" Sergio burst out, laughing throughout his entire sentence. Vinny gulped, and laughed nervously. He hoped this driver wasn't so… insane… on the way to their destination.

As they clambered into the backseat, the driver grunted an almost inaudible "Where to?"

Sergio thought for a moment, then rattled off the address.

Vinny clutched the backseat as, in fact, the driver _**did**_ start and drive crazily through the streets of Sector 5. Building after building whizzed past, until the businesses slowly turned into houses and small parks or forests. After about 5 minutes, the driver slowed down enough for the two men to pick out actual outlines, and then they suddenly stopped. Sergio lurched forward from the inertia, fortunately saved by his seatbelt. Vinny stayed frozen to the seat.

"That'll be $7.35." the driver said unconcernedly as the taxi came to a grinding halt. Sergio stayed frozen for a second, then slowly reached into his pocket to give the man the money- $8.00.

"Keep…keep the change…" he said shakily, as he tried to pry his friend from the seat. The old man looked at the bills, then smiled. An old, toothless show of gratitude.

As he sped away, (knocking over a few garbage cans,) Sergio waited as Vinny got quite sick in the nearby bushes.

Ignoring the retching, Sergio steadied himself on a lightpost, and quickly looked at the circle of houses that was in front of him. Right in the middle was the strangest house he had ever seen. It looked as if it was made by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what a house should look like, and it was painted a garish, bright green color. It was lit up brightly, odd, considering the time of night it was. Most unconcerting were the lawn gnomes. Four bug-eyed, jolly, waist-high gnomes stood on the front lawn, like guardians of some sick, nightmarish garden.

Vinny, looking quite green, exhaled loudly and slumped against the lightpost. "Never, ever, ever do that over. Ever. Again," he moaned, coughing, and wheezing slightly. But as he followed Sergio's glazed-over eyes, he saw the house. His eyes popped slightly, and he swore.

"Lemme guess-"

"Yep. That's our spot."

…..

FIND THE REFERENCES! Extra cookies to whoever gets my "rainbow stroll" joke.

ALSO, HAIL HANS ZIMMER, THE ULTIMATE POWER IN MUSIC COMPOSING! *bows*

-UpsidePickle (Got this done at 1:09 A.M. Wheeee!)


	5. Chapter 4: Crack System

A/N: Okay, seriously? The feedback that I got from the last chapter was _amazing_. Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed and favorited! (**invader kit**, **heartofstone15,** **zimmyvsdibbeh**, **pokekinz0520**, and **zim fan**…) But let's see if you can do it again, hrm?

Oh, and just a note, I'm pretty sure that Zim doesn't have a very good computer firewall or nuthin. Enjoy.

_~Like it, love it, or rip out your PAK to end the suffering, but please read and review.~_

…..

_**Lock the Door**_

_**Chapter 4: Crack System**_

…

As Vinny sat facing Harold, he saw the bright light of the lamp glint off his teeth. Lost in thought, he wondered why that twisted man would ever be so happy to hear that the _house_ was coming. Of course, he hadn't been there, had he?

Harold made a small sound- it might've been a chuckle. Vinny frowned, furrowing his eyebrows and exhaling deeply. "Yeh seem happy, Watcher," he mumbled audibly, staring at the laminated table below his hands. "Yer a sick man."

Harold cocked his head to one side and stopped laughing. "One of those statements is true," he said seriously. "I am happy, but not a sick person."

Vinny sighed, changing his view to that of the dim profile of his gorilla-reminiscent guard. "Yeh jus' wanna dredge up painful mem'ries. I…I don't believe yeh. If yeh really were from that crack system we call the gov'rment, you'd ask me hones'ly if I was the criminal or not. I'm tellin yeh, I was, I was! I stole from all those people in the sect'rs! Jus' don't ask me to go any further…. please."

Harold's smile faded. "I really am from that 'crack system,'" he said in a scolding voice. "But I really do want to know what you found there, Mr. Juan. I've taken a **small** liking to you. You have an interesting story…but you're telling me the _whole_ of it, whether you _believe_ me or not," he ended, a thinly veiled threat hidden at the end.

Vinny paused. Finally, he could understand some part of this man's mechanics. The whole time through his story, he had been confusing him with differences between good cop-bad cop. It seemed "bad cop" was going to make a breakthrough.

Of course, Vinny was uncomfortable with the rest of the story. He wondered if he should go on, a grimace crossing his face for a fraction of a second. That house was never a good topic for him. In the weeks since that had happened…

"I'm waiting, Mr. Juan."

Vinny glanced up towards his captor's facial outline, still debating. The stony shadow didn't betray any emotion that he could make out. Struggling to find some forgiving air in the stuffy, shadowy room, Vinny took short breaths, sweating and breaking into a cold sweat.

_A phobia_. That was it. He was afraid of this. Could he actually tell this man- this "bad cop"- all that had occurred inside that hideous living space? Could he betray that insidious secret?

Vinny bit the inside of his cheek, and then looked stonily at Harold.

"It…was pretty easy gettin' close ter it…-"

….

"_-it was gettin' used to it tha' was the hard part."_

Sergio still leaned on the post, a strange sort of giddiness visible in those uncompromising eyes of his. He stared at the house, the bright lights that illuminated its sides casting a strange ethereal glow over the entire cul-de-sac. It lit up the outlines of parked cars around the circle, and shed into relief the surrounding two-story houses- ones completely different from the green house itself.

Vinny also stared, an entirely different train of thought running through his head. The house's green glow instead shone with a creepy and -dare he say it- alien tone. He never once shied from a challenge of a crime, but if there ever was a time, this was it.

They both stood at that one corner, just staring at the house that would soon fall victim to their hands.

"Come on, Vin," Sergio finally murmured, taking a tentative step towards the house. Vinny, however, clenched the sleeve of his jacket.

"No," he said quietly, "No. Take a good look at that thing, Sergio! Brigh' green paint. Creepy lawn gnomes. Bright lights. Metal tubes, connectin' it to the other houses! A flag tha' says 'I Heart Earth' on it? Take a few seconds and just take a gand'r! Whoever lives there must be half insane!" Vinny glanced up at Sergio with pleading eyes, and clenched, frightened teeth.

Sergio laughed; quiet enough as to not wake the sleeping citizens inside the houses. "You're such a lady, Vin. There's nothing scary about that house."

Vinny glanced towards it, and snapped his head back towards his friend. "There's a sign tha' says "Men" on the door."

Sergio waved his hand dismissively. "So? They're weird people. That means they probably have weird and potentially _valuable_ things. Or maybe…medical equipment. If they have medical problems… That fetches a high price on the black market," he wondered aloud again, bringing his hand yet again to his chin.

Vinny shook his head and again looked towards the house. He stiffened, then sighed in defeat. "Fine. But we need ter make sure this creep doesn' have any sorta special defense. Them gnomes look suspicious somehow."

Sergio raised an eyebrow. "I'm an expert hacker. I think whatever's going on will be expertly put down. By me," he said proudly, revealing a small laptop that had been hidden in a bag, tucked inside his jacket. Vinny, used to this, grunted and shoved his hands into the dark pockets of this jacket.

Sergio looked over at the house again, grinned, and flipped open the shiny, slightly scuffed laptop.

"I just hope they happen to use the same operating system as I do," he said to no one in particular, still waiting for the machine to boot up. Vinny cleared his throat.

"Yeh _do_ realize we're loit'rin' outside, under a streetligh', at 11:00 at night, righ'?" he said scathingly, as he watched Sergio's fingers fly over the keyboard at impossible speeds. He waved in his general direction, as he realized that the security wasn't going to bow to him that easily.

Vinny froze as another thought struck him. "And I thought this was suppos'd to be _recon_? Not the actual heist?"

Sergio half-smiled. "Sometimes you have to trust your gut on these things, Vin." He typed a little bit faster, but everything came to a halt when a large red "ERROR" message popped up onto the screen. Sergio frowned and closed out of the message, it illuminating his face red.

"Yeh? Well, my gut us tellin' me to stay away from that house. It screams 'danger' righ' out to me!" Vinny whispered.

The lightpost's bulb blew out at that moment, plunging the two men into momentary darkness. Sergio's face was lit up by the bright computer screen, and it threw his face into relief. He frowned at the piece of machinery, tapping keys impatiently. "This isn't working," he said disgruntledly, after two more failed attempts.

Vinny shivered in the cold February air. "Really?" he asked sarcastically, still staring at the brightly-lit house. "What do we need to do?"

Sergio frowned deeper, as he got up from his kneeling position near the lightpost. "We need to get a little bit closer, so I can remotely link it."

Vinny reeled back, shoes scraping against the gravel. "No! I ain't goin' near it!"

Sergio sighed. "You sound like a whiny kid at the doctor's office." He grabbed the laptop and clicked it shut. The taller thief glanced around again at the other houses, making sure that no night owl could be watching the suspicious activity occurring not 50 feet from their own darkened house.

Once he was satisfied that there wasn't any chance of being seen, he walked casually down the sidewalk, Vinny following nervously behind. Once he reached the corner of the house's fence, he took a closer look.

Not only was the eerie house lit up strangely, but in the front lawn there were an assortment of demented lawn ornaments that he hadn't seen earlier. Two blowfish on tall, white sticks, hovering over the lawn as if underwater. A pink flamingo, stretched and warped as if it had seemingly grown from the ground. Still, these new findings didn't deter Sergio one bit.

As Vinny also took in the new outlook on the house, he checked the large window that resided above the…purple…door. It was pink, and however much light was shining on the outside of the house, there was no other indication that the freaks that lived inside were awake.

Good.

"You… yeh still sure, Serg'?" Vinny mumbled, risking another glance at the two smaller windows on either side of the door as his friend re-opened his laptop. They too were darkened. Vinny, used to the darkness that came with the cover of night, was able to peer inside. Due to the brightened exterior, of course, the inside seemed much dimmer than it actually was.

He was able to make out the outline of a couch and a side table. Farther back there was another easy chair, and a painting hanging on the wall, only the frame visible. It seemed normal enough from that viewpoint, but considering what he had already seen… his first impression wasn't about to be swayed that easily.

Vinny looked back at his partner-in-crime. He now was typing again on his laptop, hidden behind the short fence. As Vinny sat down beside him, Vinny wrapped his coat tighter around himself to ward off the shivers. He glanced at the computer screen and saw a fast-moving wall of numbers and text. He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm hacking into the DOS platform," Sergio explained, keeping his eyes trained on the white letters against the black background. "I just hope these people don't use the Braeburn operating system…" As soon as he mumbled the last few words, a pop-up appeared on his screen. However, it was in a foreign language, using an alphabet that neither of the two men were able to recognize off the top of their heads.

"Wait, Sergio," Vinny said as Sergio went to press the "Enter" key. "We don't even know what it says!"

Sergio smirked, and shook his head. "It's just asking if we want to access the network that's being hooked up this house." He took his pointer finger, and with an added flair, tapped the rectangular key.

Suddenly the entire screen lit up a magenta color, and more strange symbols appeared in purple against the background. Schematics for devices showed boldly on the screen, and the center again showed a pop-up. This time, it seemed to have a translation underneath the letters.

Both of the men jumped back, and Vinny growled underneath his breath. "Just as I thought… them people in that house ain't righ' in the head."

Sergio ignored the remark and took a closer look at the translation into English underneath the symbols. "Gnome toggle **on**/off? Perimeter scanner **on**/off? Central computer **on**/off?" he read off slowly, understanding what the symbols must mean.

"Vin, it's a different language," he said after a few seconds. Vinny scrutinized the purple lettering, checking the other screens and schematics as well.

"It is? Well, tha' explains sumthin'…" he answered, checking the center screen. "I think all that is sec'rity junk."

Sergio stroked the trackpad with his middle finger, bringing the cursor to the "off" button of the perimeter scanner. "It seems too easy…" he mused, finger hovering over the "Enter" key again. He looked at the break in the fence beside him, and did in fact notice a thin blue shield of laser lights. Oh, really now? There might be an explanation for this kind of behavior…

"I think we might have an addict here," Sergio said uncertainly. "Overly paranoid about security, strange decorations, bright lights, weird schematics and different, probably made-up language or alphabet? All promising signs."

Vinny tore his gaze away from the laptop screen and followed Sergio's unwavering gaze. He noticed the thin blue layer of small lights, and looked again at the screen.

"It seems too easy, doesn' it?"

Sergio nodded.

Vinny grabbed the laptop away from the distracted Sergio and jabbed the "Enter" button. As he watched, the blue lights slowly died, and the pop-up turned a darker color. He grinned.

"It migh' seem easy, bu' thas b'cause it is!" He whispered proudly, and quickly deactivated the other two buttons. Soon the pop-up had turned a dark violet, and the hum of electricity ceased.

Soon, they were plunged into darkness, the computer screen the only thing illuminating the two men's faces. "Perfect," Sergio said after a while, waiting to see if these people were awake or not, by chance. They would notice their lights going out.

But that wasn't the case.

Sergio silently tucked the laptop back into his jacket and slowly extracted his own pistol. A shiny, black, new gun ready for its first run. Vinny did the same and took out his own.

As the darkness slowly suffocated the two, the only light that aided them was the light of the slim crescent moon and the stars.

The side of the house yielded nothing but another window and a brick chimney. On the other side of the slim alley between the two abodes, there were more windows on the other house's side. They were careful to creep below the majority, as not to be seen by some late, late author or college student… or anyone who was insane enough to be awake at that hour.

They reached the first window…and began their mission in Sector Five. Noticing that these particular windows couldn't be locked and were easy enough to open from the outside, the two men slipped in silently. They took a good look at where they were… and it shocked them.

They were in a living room, or a crude representation of a living room. The walls, from what they could see by the beam of a flashlight Vinny had taken out, were a sickening yellowish-green color. The couch was a light pink, and so was the chair that Vinny had seen earlier. Right next to them laid a bookcase, filled with various brightly-colored books.

Also next to them was a huge…and by huge I mean 5-and-a-half foot tall television, with a width of probably 6 feet. The outer edges were pink, and various tubes and wires were jumbled up in a mess of spaghetti-like tangles. At had a small knob next to it, for whatever reason.

And oh, _the monkey_. Above the couch was a large and slightly disturbing caricature of a lime-green monkey, with huge purple eyes and a tooth sticking out of its small mouth. It did nothing for the normality of the room.

But that wasn't the worst part.

Oh, that wasn't the worst of it at all.

…..

**I LOVE CLIFFHANGERS AND THAT IS BAD.**

-UpsidePickle


	6. Chapter 5: The Worst Of It

A/N: I got **11** reviews in ONE day! Can you imagine how great that feels to an aspiring writer? It is magical. I _**love**_ you _**all**_, **Starlight Comet **(three times, actually)** pokekinz0520, Silverbeast, heartofstone15, xXannabellXx, Irken Invader Terra, HiddenShadows798, Daisy's Dead Rose, **and **invader kit.**

_~Like it, love it, or rip out your PAK to end the suffering, but please, read and review.~_

….

_**Lock the Door**_

_**Chapter 5: The Worst of It**_

….

Harold sat, staring at Vinny. The criminal had quieted for a moment, giving time for Harold to compose his thoughts. Of course, this man was telling the truth-what would he gain by lying? But, this story was turning out to be more convoluted than he originally thought. This man was more complicated and twisted up in knots that he thought possible.

Not to mention the strange things that Vincent was telling him. Green houses and security lawn gnomes? Impossible…but irrefutable. All of it was true. All of it. And that was the terrifying part. It made Harold's heart beat faster, and his breathing a bit more labored.

Was it getting hot in there?

Vinny took another breath, made an action as if to speak, but closed his mouth and exhaled loudly.

"So…Mr. Juan. Are you going to continue?" Harold asked tentatively, not wanting to egg him on too badly. He knew that people who had recently gone through a traumatic experience would crack easily and at any given time.

Vinny gazed at the table. He could tell that many people had sat at this table before. Handprints and dirt marks were abundant on the laminated surface. When was the last time that Harold cleaned this? He adjusted his sitting position and stared at the shadowy outline of his captor.

"Yeh, yeh… anyways, have yeh ever 'eard the first principle of robb'ries?" he said quietly, dropping his sights and again staring at the table.

Harold propped his elbow up onto the table. "Enlighten me," he answered as-a-matter-of-factly.

"The very firs' thing that's obv'ous to even the innocent folk… is not be seen. 't all costs."

…

"_Then, we believ'd that to be the on'y truth…"_

Oh, the so-called living room was terrifying to the two men. Garish colors stuck out at them from all sides and angles. Tubes hung from the ceiling and there was a track leading to the door. The floor was hard and pink- there were strange shadows cast by the even stranger furniture.

But that wasn't the worst of it. That wasn't the worst of it at all.

Vinny took a shuddering gasp. "P-p-please tell me yer seein' wha I'm seein', Serg…" he said quietly, holding up his gun.

"I see it. I see it just as well as you do."

Standing, _alive_, right in front of them, was a robot.

Two cyan, glowing eyes stared at the two men, questioning and bulbous. They had no pupils. Matching the eyes was a cyan chestplate and a lone antenna with a glowing sphere on the end. It leaned to one side, adding to the image of it questioning the two men.

The robot could have been no more than 3 feet tall, with a silver body and tubular arms. Attached to the latter were mitten-like claws, with only a palm and a thumb to its name. Its feet and legs were nothing but a cone, attached to the body by some unseen force. Magnets? Magic?...

The robot, frozen apparently in mid-stride towards the couch, gazed at Sergio and Vinny. Suddenly, they saw it break into a wide grin.

"YEEEWWW GONNA WATCH "'TESTINES O WAR" WIF MEEEEE?" It screamed loudly, and the sudden noise caused Vinny to accidentally put pressure on his gun's trigger. He yelled and shielded himself, but miraculously he hadn't switched the safety off.

Sergio, however, was motionless, staring silently at the robot, mouth open wide in shock. The small android then moved with an incredible speed, and snatched the two men from their standing position, and with surprising strength, pulled them both towards the pink sofa. They were thrown against it, and Vinny swore as the robot procured some rope from its head and… proceeded to tie Sergio and Vinny to the couch.

After it stepped back to admire its work, Vinny pulled against the bindings, only to discover that they were tightly woven around both his and Sergio's wrists.

"Now you BOTH hafta watch "'Testines 'O War" wif meeeee~!" It sang happily, gleefully opening its mouth wide with its exclamation.

"Wait…" it said after a second, eyes wide and halfway across the living room already- "I forgot to tell yous! Mastah calls me Stu Pid Roy Bot, but mah real name is GIR! Remember dat? Gir! Gir! GIIIIIR!"

Both of the men couldn't really say a word, partly because they were still shocked that a robot had virtually taken them hostage, and partly because their ears were ringing loudly from the ear-splitting screams that emitted from it.

"I awways make WAFFLES when ah watch a mooovie," it rambled on, "but 'cause 'Puter went all deady, there's no hot stuff to make fire to COOK da waffles. So I MADES THE BATTA! IS STILL GOOOOOD!" it screamed again, as it lifted a bowl of waffle batter to its mouth and drank it.

"W-wh-who's 'Puter, uh, G-Gir?" Vinny finally asked after Gir had drank the entire bowl, and was looking at it sadly.

Sergio took a shaky breath and tried to twist around to look at his friend strangely. Why was he talking to a robot… and a possibly dangerous one at that?

Gir brightened at his remark, however, and took no notice of Sergio.

"Ooooo, so yous isn't deeead yet? I thought you was. You didn't talk or nuthin. Sometimes if somebodees comes in, Mastah takes 'em, and they didn't live no more. They leaked all red. I put dem on the couch sometiiiiiimes, but they didn't eat mah waffles."

Vinny's eyed widened, and his breath caught in his throat. He…this…all he knew right now was that he was tied up to his friend, he was having a conversation with a robot named Gir, and he was in a murderer's house. That was all.

Gir mistook his terror as interest. "Yeah, 'Puter told me I shouldn't do dat, 'cause someone might see me in da window, but only Big Head Boy comes. And da pizza guy. But Mastah sometimes takes da pizza guy too, and then I have to eat Gazzy's pizza because they mix da pizza up. But is okay, 'cause I luuurve Gazzy and I don't mind thinkin' of her sometimes!"

Vinny and Sergio both stiffened at this. They knew this _Gazzy_ person well. She said she had always gotten her "pizzas mixed up with Gir." Well, now they knew who he…or it…was.

Gir sighed. "Mastah says I talk too much. Youuuu think I talk too much?"

Both of the thieves were snapped out of their respective trances at that. This robot was completely innocent of everything. He was naïve, and he didn't know much about hospitality. However, in the darkened room, there was a chance that the stupidity of this robot was going to be useful.

"Uh, Gir…" Sergio said quietly, "we could watch, erm, 'Testines 'O War now-"

"GOOD IDEA, TALL WORMY!" Gir screamed again in delight, and rushed to the large television, and pressed the knob.

Nothing happened.

"We shut off the centr'l computer," Vinny muttered to his friend. "There's no electr'city. When the thing said "hot stuff" he probably meant the stove."

Sergio nodded, not taking his eye off of the robot, which was pressing the knob unceasingly now. "I have a plan to get us out of here, don't worry."

"Wait, Gir. First you have to untie us," he said in a louder voice, getting the attention of the android.

Gir froze and turned towards them, a pink tongue visible sticking cutely out of its mouth. "Whhhhyyyyyyy?" Gir questioned in a sing-song voice.

"Because…well, we won't eat your… waffles then."

Gir's eye grew huge at this, and he whimpered. "But yew GOTTA eat the waffles!" he countered. "Mastah likes em! ...but if I get the peanuts and soap Mastah goes like this-BLEEEEAAAARGH!"

He demonstrated by mock-retching on the floor, and he again glared at the two men with those blank, inhuman eyes.

Sergio chuckled nervously. "Untie us, Gir, and I'll fix the T.V."

Gir brightened. "Yew gonna fix it? YAAAAYYY, I LEIK YOUUU, TALL WORMY!" He glanced at Vinny. "AND YOU TOO, SHORTY WORMY!"

Sergio lifted an eyebrow in smug victory, watching as Gir finally released the two men from their bindings. Once the immediate danger had passed, they looked down clearly at the small robot.

As they had noticed earlier, his entire body (save for the glowing cyan spheres and chestplates) was a shiny silver color. But only now did they realize the stains.

Dried, brown remains of a… liquid covered most of the thing, unable to be seen from far away. The smell off it was sickening, and Vinny nearly lost his stomach contents for the second time that evening. Mingling with the scent was the subtle stench of pizza grease and other various fast-food smells.

The entire thing was horrible.

As Vinny sat back exhaustedly on the couch, he averted his eyes from Gir. Most likely the thing was malfunctioning, as quips from his "Mastah" had revealed. He watched movies with dead people, drank raw waffle batter and ate everything else.

_Speaking of, where is this Mastah?..._

Vinny watched as Sergio stood up quickly and revealed his laptop again. He opened it, not realizing that he had, in fact, left the screen at the magenta schematics and pop-ups. Gir strolled over to where he knelt, watching him move the cursor over to the Central computer on/**off **switch… and press the Enter button.

The lights came back on with a surge of electricity.

"WHOA! I'M ALIIIIIVE!"

Both Vinny and Sergio let out a yell of surprise. The voice sounded as if it had emanated from the very walls themselves- although that was not very far from the truth.

"Wh-who are you?" Sergio called out, scrambling for an answer. There was an electronic whirr that almost sounded surprised.

"Oh. Hey. Intruders. Oh, whatever, I'm so tired…" the voice said again. It sneered in a monotone that was reminiscent of Gaz herself. Apathetic and uncaring.

"Dat's 'Puter!" Gir said happily, eyes squinted in happiness. "He's niiiice."

Vinny opened his mouth a little bit, taken aback. That voice was the central computer? No… couldn't be.

Sergio, however, grinned in delight. "Two perfectly operational A.I. entities? Must be my lucky day…" he said quietly, smiling so faintly only he could even tell that he was.

"Oh yeah… hi. I'm, uh Computer." The house said. "I don't really have a real name. I do everything around here- control the lights, the security, the menial tasks like saving all the data, making sure Gir doesn't blow up the entire bas-" Computer paused. "Oh, I've said too much."

The two criminals were awestruck. A talking house. A naïve robot. Security lawn gnomes. It was really, really, all too much.

Gir interjected into the conversation. "Hey, 'Puter, the T.V. workin' yet?" He looked a bit disgruntled that his movie would be delayed.

"Yeah, whatever," the computer said, uninterested and totally unmotivated. "Oh, you intruders," it said suddenly, "Steal anything you want, but the television stays. Gir would go crazy if he saw it was gone. It'd break his metallic little heart…" -it made a gulping sound- "not that I care."

Sergio almost laughed. "You don't care if we steal something?"

The computer made a smattering of electronic sounds that could have been a laugh. "What? Not like Master's gonna do anything to me. He can't deactivate me at all, and he can't punch me or fight me. Can't kill me…bulleeeeeeetprooooof," it sang, quoting a song from the 2010's.

Vinny made a determined face. "Who's yer "Master" ay'ways?" he said defiantly, realizing he was shaking his fist at the ceiling.

The computer was silent.

"Classified."

….

Vinny wasn't watching Harold that closely, so when he looked up to see his head in his hands, and his whole body shaking, he knew he was laughing.

"Funny? It's all _funny_ ter yeh, eh?" Vinny growled. "You want to know what happened next? _After_ all the crazy happenings and unbeliv'ble technology?"

Harold shook a few more times, then slid his elbows off the table and grinned, from what Vinny could see.

"Mr. Juan, I apologize. But I've never heard of a talking house." He said that with an obvious smile in his tone. Vinny raised an eyebrow.

"Well, of cours' not," he countered, "b'cause it wasn' a talking house. Not at all, not at all."

"Then what was it?"

Vinny stared him straight in the eyes. Brown met shadowy outlines.

"It was a warning. We should have never bothered that place."

…

As Gir watched his movie, "Intestines of War," the room was dark and the two criminals had walked around the cramped living space. They found no one, no "Mastah" in a bedroom or in any other room. Hidden, perhaps away?

Sergio flopped down onto the pink couch, next to his friend that was intently watching the movie.

"_Aaaargh, my intestines!"_

"_No, Sergeant Dag! You can't die now!"_

"_It's…it's my time…I'm coming, Maria!"_

He raised an eyebrow at the old-fashioned black-and-white movie. Regardless of how impressive the television it was on was. He sighed and turned to say something to his friend, and noticed that he was sniffling.

"You're not crying over this movie." He said blandly.

"_Manly _tears_." _

Sergio ran his fingers through his messy black hair. "Sheesh. Just when I thought you couldn't get any lower…"

The two men had been here for over an hour now. Getting used to the interior design and architecture was a feat in itself, but then there was the thought of getting caught off guard by that "Mastah" person. A serial killer, most likely. A real homicidal maniac. But, after checking the rest of the strange house, they found no one… and nothing of real value to steal.

"This's a waste of time," Vinny said after a minute had passed. "I know there's nothin' here. Just this Gir thing and a comput'r. I'm still uneasy, tho. There's something wrong… why are we still here, a'yways?"

Sergio looked around. "There's nothing wrong. You're so paranoid. And we still haven't checked if there's a basement yet. People have good things in basements."

Vinny made a disgusted noise, and watched as the movie finally ended, the credits rolling down the screen. The T.V. clicked off, rendering the screen blank.

Suddenly, Gir started howling and screaming like a banshee.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOO, 'PUTER! I NEED IT! I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! NOOO! STOPPIT! 'PUTER, 'PUTER, 'PUTER! PLEEEEEAAASE? I MAKE YOU WAFFLES! NOO! NO! NO! NOOOOOO!"

He started crying, a feat that both of the men knew previously to be impossible for a robot. Tears, real water dripped down from his metallic face, cleaning some of the dried brown crust off his face. He beat the ground with his fists.

"NOOOO! NOO! PLEASE, 'PUTER! I NEED IT! I DO ANYFING TO GE-"

"GIR!"

Everyone in the vicinity froze. That wasn't the computer. Or either of the men. Nor Gir. It seemed as if on a loud speaker-…

"I'm coming up, GIR!"

Apparently Mastah had finally revealed himself.

…

References. Find them. One is from Wall-E. One is from Fullmetal Alchemist. One is from Angry Beavers. One is from Sonic the Hedgehog. Find them and review me the answers.

(I'm sorry if this one seems a little bit jerky to you. I was tired and I needed sleep.)

-UpsidePickle


	7. Chapter 6: Close Encounters

_A/N_: Sorry for the ridiculous wait, guys. I've had a major case of the 'blah' and didn't really feel the muse. I'm terrible at writing action scenes. But then I listened to Audiomachine and Muse. Then it flew. ON WITH THE READING.

…_.._

Some people really don't believe in aliens.

Of course, their version is

Little green men

With laser guns and spaceships.

Those kinds never existed

And probably never will.

They're just figments

Of our overly active human imagination.

But just think!

We are one planet

In one solar system

In one galaxy

with thousands of other solar systems

inside it.

We can only see

A fraction of the universe.

How many other galaxies?

How many other solar systems?

How many other _planets_?

Why would you ever think

We could ever be as so lucky

To be the only ones

Out here?

Why would you ever think

we are blessed that way?

We are not favored above all else,

And many things

are hidden from our prying view.

Of course, there's thing

That I know,

that I can tell you!

Can you keep a secret?

I'll whisper it in your ear-

_We_

_Are_

_Not_

_Alone._

…_._

_**Lock the Door**_

_**Chapter 6: Close Encounters of the Third Kind**_

….

"_I'm coming up, GIR!"_

The voice over the loudspeaker wasn't a calm one, a soft one, a comforting one. It was harsh. It demanded attention. It made you take an immediate step back from whomever it belonged to. It made you anxious. It made your heart beat faster, and your breathing heavier. It belonged to a formidable force.

And that's why they were frozen. Frozen to the ground by some unseen murderer's voice.

"Sergio…" Vinny said quietly, after the grating voice had stopped, "we need to run. Now."

He looked to his side, where his friend was standing, staring at Gir, who had also frozen and looking speculatively at the two men. The room was dark again, reshaping itself into an untouched space. The electronic hum of the computer had ceased – as if the whole house was holding its breath for the arrival of the master.

Gir suddenly gasped and threw himself at Sergio, wrapping itself tightly around the criminal's legs. Sergio grunted and angled dangerously towards the floor.

"You need to go, Tally Wormy," he said clearly. "Short Wormy too. Mastah isn't going to like that you was in here. If he sees you…" Gir trailed off, but both men knew exactly what happened next.

"Alrigh', uh, Gir. We'll leave," Vinny said quickly, and grabbed his friend by the arm.

"Wait."

Vinny swung around. "Sergio…what?"

His friend looked towards him, eyes wide, scrambling to get a grip on the slightly slippery floor. "I didn't say anything, Vin." Vinny stared at him, then whipped his head up to look at the kitchen archway.

Vinny's breath caught in his throat, expecting to see a tall man with some sort of gun, knife, or other tool that was useful for murdering people like a homicidal maniac.

But no one was there but Gir, standing with his back to the two men. Both Vinny and Sergio stared, until Sergio broke the silence.

"I thought you said we should run." He said carefully, confused as to what made Gir change his mind so quickly.

"Intruder detected. Initiate Defense Program A113."

Gir said in a much deeper voice, now turning towards them.

Both Sergio and Vinny swore simultaneously, jumping back as they saw Gir's eyes change from a sweet and innocent blue to a dangerous and threatening red. "Wha-what are y-"

"Defense Systems activated. Warn Owner and Operator In Effect."

Sergio gasped and bared his teeth, as Gir brought out a small cylinder that could have been a laser pointer, and whipped it around to point directly at the two men.

Vinny let out a yell and made an ungainly lurch towards the front door, horizon tilting haphazardly. Sergio clicked the safety off his gun, and with a BANG, shot again and again at the android. Gir's face hardened into a frown.

"Humans, you're going to have to do much better than that." He said in a monotone, a high-pitched whine filling the room. Sergio swore again and let his guard drop as a small red light pierced his shoulder. He yelled, feeling his shoulder burn and his hand lose grip of the gun.

He shouted again, rolled over to pick up his gun and unleashed yet another round of bullets on the slowly advancing robot. He clutched his shoulder, while Vinny fumbled with his pistol. Hands shaking, Vinny watched as the metallic whine ended and the red light slowly faded. He finally released the safety and shot a tentative bullet at Gir.

It bounced off harmlessly, not so different from the others. Gir's…laser... retracted and he stood motionless, surveying the damage.

Breathing heavily, both Sergio and Vinny took a look back at the wall behind them. Black scorch marks were criss-crossed randomly, burned into the plaster and wood behind them. Both men took an immediate backtrack when they caught sight of Sergio's shoulder.

The cloth was burned around the site, and a small point on his skin was black. A red, shiny burn completed the sickly look, and Vinny also bore signs of a millisecond under that beam.

Gir smiled. "A new update. I'm quite proud of it – you should feel lucky you both survived. I could have done much worse."

Vinny sputtered uselessly, then regained use of his tongue. "Wh-what, who are you?" he shouted angrily, gun still pointed shakily at the small robot.

"That's not important," Gir said uninterestedly. "What's important is that I've secured the area. You aren't going anywhere until my Master gets here."

Sergio groaned, and clenched his fists tightly near his burn. "You…you're…insane!..." he said, gasping as he felt an ugly yellow pus seep out of the black spot.

Gir grinned wider. "I only activated Defense Program A113. It's standard."

Vinny breathed through his teeth, not taking his eyes or pistol off of the metallic abomination that had injured his friend. "We can still…escape."

Gir frowned again. "And risk the arm of your friend? I'm afraid I did quite a bit of damage. It may not look it from the outside, but –"

"ENOUGH!" Vinny bellowed, as he clenched the gun tighter and grasped Sergio around the collar. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

Gir again took out the laser and watched with glee as the metallic screech seemed to cause Sergio physical pain. "And so has he."

But a 'clank' from the kitchen made Vinny's blood turn to ice.

Vinny wasn't sure what he was expecting – a tall man with a kitchen knife? A mad scientist with surgical tools and a mallet? Maybe even a bearded hillbilly with a chainsaw. But not what he saw. Not at all.

When he saw a black boot emerge from the side of the kitchen archway, he gasped, as well did Sergio, albeit painfully. But what was attached made him scream.

Grey tight leggings and a bright magenta tunic made out of a slightly shiny fabric paired well with the light pink sleeves and the leathery gloves and boots. But the green skin did nothing for it.

The only thing comprehensible running through Vinny's mind was nothing more than '_The crazies were right.'_

Aliens!

What was standing before him could be called nothing but. A green, bald head with slender antennae that bent towards the middle of the head. Pink compound eyes with no pupils. No nose, no ears, no pockmarks or eyebrows as well. A frown, displeased with the current situation, with a row of zipper-like teeth visible.

It was really not human at all. But suddenly the yelling brought both men down to Earth, away from whatever distant planet this thing was from.

"GIR! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" it screamed, eyes narrowing and gesturing towards to carnage left from the men's brief fight with the android.

It only had three fingers…

The alien shook with anger as Gir's eyes faded from red, back to the cyan that meant a pleasant disposition. "Mastah, I sorry! But Tally Wormy and Short Wormy came in, and then they watched a moooovie wif meh…"

Gir's 'master' stopped clenching its fists and relaxed. "Was that why you were interrupting my being ingenious?" it asked; now only mildy annoyed. Sergio and Vinny still could only watch with their mouths hanged limply open.

Gir nodded sadly, tears now again dripping down its face. The alien sighed and lightly whapped it on the head. "Gir, I can't leave you alone for ten minutes without you bringing humans inside our house. It's stupid, you little…" It paused and sighed again, then looked stonily at the two men.

"Well, pitiful humans, I suppose you should know who mercilessly took extensive tests and biopsies on you. I'll tell you," -it started increasing in volume-"my name is the ALMIGHTY ZIIIIM!"

'Zim' started laughing maniacally while Gir clapped inanely, completely oblivious.

"HAHAHAHA! YES! And you cannot escape!" Zim, who had regained his former zeal, pointed a finger at the ceiling. "COMPUTER! Lay down a force field over the front door!"

Behind the two criminals, a red laser beam fence was immediately placed in between them and their nearest escape. Vinny was knocked out of his shocked state, and instead started stammering and whipping his gun around wildly. Sergio was motionless, clutching his injured shoulder and staring at Zim.

The red lights and Gir were the only things illuminating the dark room, aside from the filtered starlight that came through the windows, faint as it was. It cast more ghastly shadows on the men's faces, bringing into focus a disgusted and terrified expression on Vinny's face. This creep was a murderer and an alien. That was really all that was important right now. But, still indecisive whether to risk the lasers or admit defeat, Vinny said nothing and pointed his gun defiantly at Zim.

The alien stood proudly there, as if he had singlehandedly caught them himself. "I don't think that would be the smartest idea, human. My weapons are far more advanced and…blowy…uppy… than yours." he said, waving his hand dismissively.

Vinny took a shuddering breath through his teeth, gun slightly wavering. Finally, he spoke.

"W-w-wha'd your robot sidekick do ter Serg'?"

Zim smiled. "So you aren't a mute," he chuckled. "Stunned by my amazingness? Yes…that happens sometimes." He said it with a Napoleon-like air, him apparently being short in stature but astoundingly narcissistic.

He glared at him coldly afterwards, however, humor gone. "Gir didn't do anything life-threatening. He just made it limb-threatening. I need my specimens wholly unharmed. That was the best he could do without majorly hurting you."

"Specimens?" Vinny hissed, not liking the sound of that at all.

"You thought you were getting out of here? You're now, as the humans call it, my guinea pigs."

Vinny's finger tightened around the trigger. He couldn't bring himself to shoot, for fear it would miss as easily as the one he had fired earlier at Gir. He only had a precious few.

Zim mistook his thinking as fear. "Yessss… haha, if the Dib-stink could see me now!"

Vinny's face changed for a fraction of a second, barely recognizing the name that was mentioned in that Bloaty's booth, the moment that seemed so long ago.

It cleared his mind.

He ran.

Grasping Sergio's uninjured arm, with surprised cries from all members in the vicinity, he rushed into the kitchen, extremely surprised to see a toilet attached to the far wall. He was even more surprised to see that a platform rose from the bowl. Crazed and hearing a metallic clicking from behind him, he rushed towards it, dragging his friend behind him, with yells of protest.

For a moment, the source of the metallic clicking was revealed by a quick look at Zim. Spindly, long silver spider legs were protruding from a small metal backpack that Vinny hadn't noticed before.

But both Vinny and Sergio crashed onto the toilet platform at that moment, and were suddenly being whisked down a strange pink-tinted tube – as if in a calm elevator.

Both men breathed heavily, as the hole above them closed and Zim's livid screams echoed through the tube.

Sergio was the first to speak. He swore at his friend with a bemused expression, not having it all sunk in yet. "What did you do up there?" he continued, his profanities and sentences punctuated by short gasps of pain.

Vinny shook his head, unable to speak well. Beads of adrenaline-fueled sweat were clearly visible on his forehead, heart still pounding and taking gulps of welcome air.

Sergio just stared at him, clutching his injury. "So the serial killer is an alien, I've been hit with some sort of superlaser, and we're being cast as guinea pigs to biopsies and experiments? Did you let me eat a mushroom or something?

Vinny shook his head. He laid a hand on the side of the tube, watching as Sergio tried to stand in the cramped space. He glanced out of the tube, and his jaw dropped at what he saw.

Outside of the tube was a pure labyrinth of wires, tubes, and spheres so big they could be rooms. They might have been, as indicated by more tubes that looked like hallways. The entire thing was painted and shaded a magenta or purplish color. There wasn't a bright color to be spotted within 50 feet – if Vinny or Sergio could see that far for the mess of wires.

Watching with widened eyes, they came to a gentle stop. The tube opened silently, and Sergio carefully made his way inside, followed by Vinny.

The inside of what looked like a hallway wasn't much different than the space they had seen outside. Magenta and purple reigned the dominant colors, and mostly dark shades at that. The hallways had an astounding amount of electronic equipment – some devices of unknown yet sinister purpose.

"Invasion of the Body… Snatchers this ain't…" Sergio muttered quietly.

Vinny gulped and turned to his friend. "Serg', I don't think we're going to get out of here – alive." He added the last part tensely, as if saying it would jinx the entire operation.

Sergio shivered, disregarding the warm temperature of the hallway itself. "Don't…don't say that," he said jerkily. "Don't."

Vinny said nothing more, and looked down the length of the hall. The source of light was what seemed to be the tube itself, the rest of the space being dark. The platform, however, suddenly was enclosed in the tube again, and it rose to the top once more. There was no escaping.

Vinny turned back to his friend. But murmuring a disgusted "eurgh," he saw Sergio's shoulder again. It seemed to have gotten much worse. The red shiny skin had changed and was now an ugly, cracked, and scabbed over wound. The black part had grown and was now covered in thick yellowish pus. The smell of burned and injured flesh permeated the claustrophobic hall in little time.

But acting upon what seemed to be a shared thought, the two men walked carefully and slowly down the dark, purple hallway. The entire thing reeked with a foreign yet sweet smell. Even more frightening, however, was the subtle undertone of sanitizer and metal. Sergio's wound did nothing to take that odor away.

After what seemed to be a minute or so, Vinny stopped and glared at what seemed to be a door. It was incredibly massive, however, reaching 10 feet well above the criminal's heads.

"Think this could lead to an exit?" Vinny said finally, Sergio lifting his head and glancing at the indented part of the hallway.

"Seems a…. little big…." he replied, Vinny noticing something wrong with his tone.

"Serg', are yeh okay?" he asked, looking sideways toward Sergio.

Sergio shivered again, an unnatural shaking running through his entire body. Now, it had nothing to do with the temperature. "I need to get out," he said numbly, staring straight through his friend. Vinny grasped his forearms, making sure not to hurt his shoulder in the process.

"Serg'. We're gonna get outta here. I promise yeh. Where's the tech-whatever genius tha' pushed us ter go in here? C'mon - Yer not a whiny little kid that I'm seein' now. C'mon. You were fine five minute ago."

His friend leaned on the side of the hallway, staring up, frozen now. "It knows that we're here…Vin…we need to get out."

Vinny started at his friend's statement, now realizing that he shouldn't have been so naïve to think that Zim or whatever wouldn't be following them. They were in his creepy little lab, anyways.

Vinny swore and cursed his bad luck. He had left his flashlight in the living room. They were in an enclosed space, with no light, an injury and little more than two pistols, one half empty, for ammunition. They were, quite simply, doomed.

Vinny shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. "Sergio, we-"

But of course, as happens with escapes, you eventually almost always get caught.

Vinny stopped speaking and both men whipped their heads around at the sound of what seemed like screeching and melting metal, along with angry mutterings and metallic clicking. _Zim!_

Vinny swore again, and returned his attention to the door. It seemed secure, unfortunately, but an electronic panel caught his eye. Looking towards it, there was a plethora of multicolored buttons that could be password keys. He pressed a random button, only to sense that nothing happened. He pushed another, hearing the muttering get louder, and echo quietly on the rounded corners and walls of the hallway they were in.

Pushing frantically, he sighed with relief as he heard a large "clunk" that signaled that the door was opening, or at the very least unlocked. Seeing as it did not open automatically, he pushed aside a tall door with a feeble attempt at help from Sergio.

They ran through it quickly. Closing the door behind them, they faced a strangely bright room. Shorter than the hallway they had entered from, (for some reason) the room was a light blue, almost a white. Light seemed to illuminate from the walls themselves – and the effect was blinding, coming in from the darkness of the hallway.

It was empty, but getting used to the brightness, both men saw it was a gently curved hallway.

"Oh, thank g-" Vinny started, but he was cut off by the sound of the approaching metallic clicking of their captor.

Both men fell silent, save for Sergio's occasional shivering. They listened for Zim in the hallway, waiting for a few seconds before the clicking started and stopped. He was looking for them.

Soon the muttering also stopped, and the clicking had ceased. There was a sharp intake of breath as Sergio felt a stab of pain. He slapped a hand over his mouth worriedly, still silent, crouching in a ball on the floor.

Apparently Zim, even without ears, could still hear.

"You filthy _humans_ are too stupid to quiet your _scared_ breathing…" he said with a hiss, pushing open the door with a slow creak.

He slammed the door open. Then, standing there in front of the burglars, was Zim. But he had changed. Instead of the zealous, megalomaniacal, and happy short alien… there was an angry, unmerciful and uncompromising alien. Did we mention the silver spider legs coming out of his back?

The legs made him tall – he towered over the crouched forms and smiled cruelly. "You really thought you could hide from me in my own base? This will be easier than I thought." he said smoothly, pretending to check the back of his gloved hand.

Vinny scrambled up against the smooth, cold wall and took out his gun.

Zim smirked and pointed at the pistol. "Ha, human, you really think you can hurt me wi-"

**BANG.**

The shot resounded through the hallway, as well did the groan from the victim of the bullet. Zim grasped his side, and lifted his hand, only to reveal a sickening _green_ stain spreading over his tunic. Spots of it dripped onto the pristine blue floor, staining it.

Zim growled. "You _shot_ me."

Indeed Vinny did. He held the gun with tight hands, trembling quietly as he held his stance more or less firm.

Zim took another look at his wound, and lunged for the two men.

Vinny grunted and twisted out of the way, pulling his motionless friend along with him, as another shot rang out through the hallway. It missed and rebounded off the wall. Zim let out a scream and lifted a spider leg for a stabbing attack. Vinny saw it coming and rolled underneath the others, making care to knock them off their precarious stance.

Zim yelled a curse in a strange language and crumpled to the floor, inches away from where Vinny had previously been. He flinched as he realized Sergio was still numbly leaning against the wall – not two feet from where the alien had landed ungracefully.

Zim saw an opening and reached a gloved hand towards the injured man, brushing the cuff of his coat. Vinny yanked on one of his legs, jerking him back a few inches from his friend. Zim growled again, and swiped his hand away, regaining ground on his legs.

Vinny fumbled around for his gun again, grasping uncertainly at the trigger. Zim used his attack against him, however, and swiped the man's legs out from under him, knocking his breath out and his gun away from his hands.

He cursed again, watching almost helplessly as Zim tried to ham up the moment. "Human, you really shouldn't have picked a fight with an Irken elite… you might need an adhesive medical strip afterwards."

Vinny's mind scrambled quickly around for an answer, but could only come up with -

"Aren't you a little short to be elite of anything?"

Apparently that did it, for Zim's face turned a deeper shade of green, and he swiftly grabbed him by the collar.

"You'll regret saying that when your windpipe is being crushed." he hissed in his ear, gesturing towards his neck.

Zim decided he couldn't wait and swiftly changed hands, and moved to his neck. Surprisingly strong for such a small being, he gripped Vinny's throat with a vengeance.

Vinny's eyes watered and he choked out an unintelligible syllable when he saw his friend over Zim's shoulder. Sergio stared blankly at the scene in front of him – but seemed to understand. He lifted up his own pistol quite shakily and put a forefinger on the trigger. He pulled.

The bang seemed louder this time, or was it just because of the oxygen deprivation? It echoed around in Vinny's brain, when he finally felt his throat being released.

He saw in his blurry vision Zim, screaming again. More dark green splotches were visible on the floor, wildly spread by Zim flailing his arm around.

He saw somewhat Zim turn around and grab Sergio by the collar, spitting words into his face.

Vinny could hardly breathe, and could only watch as Zim took him around the corner. Sergio yelled wildly –

and Vinny waited as his screams morphed into silence.

…..

It seems I may have killed off a character~

One ref. Find it.

-UpsidePickle


	8. Chapter 7: The Unlocked Door

A/N:…Wow, it's the end of the story already? I can't believe it… And it's going even faster with the help of Coca-Cola induced typing speeds.

Sorry I didn't credit all the reviewers, and alerters, and favoriters last chapter. So thanks to **pokekinz0520, Mika-bell, Invader Rose, invader kit, heartofstone15 (**of course ;) **), HiddenShadows798, Silverbeast, Cloaked Irken, SkyScraper 19, **the story alerters** Monochrome Daydream, DinoGuy2000, **and** Orochigin, **and the story favoritersfrom all the chapters.

_I love you alllll._

_~Like it, love it, or rip out your PAK to end the suffering, but please read and review.~_

…

_**Lock The Door**_

_**Chapter 7: The Unlocked Door**_

….

Harold watched in silence as Vinny laid his head down on the table, watching tears drip off his pug nose and splash onto the table quietly.

He had finally relayed the end of his tale, not going any farther than Sergio's untimely demise. The entire thing was unsettling to Harold – never before had he this much proof stored in one man. He may be a criminal, but he could be of some use to him.

But he propped up his chair on two legs and stretched, waiting for Vinny to regain some composure. Quite frankly, he would be weeping too if one of his friends had died in a tragic accident involving criminal activities and extraterrestrials – although that was a little far off.

Harold waited as the other man's brightened form stilled and took a few steady breaths.

"Do yeh realize why I don' wanna talk abou' it?" he said quietly after a while, not removing his head from his hands. The harsh light of the lamp glinted off the miniature beads of water on the laminate table below him, bright spots of life on the artificial surface. Vinny's story had sucked the life out of this room. The dark undertone of what could have been an innocent (guilty?) interrogation.

Harold said nothing, setting his chair back on four wooden legs - watching as Vinny sighed and sat up again. His face was smudged slightly, but he didn't seem to want to give away his weakness. He put on a brave face and stared right at where he thought Harold's eyes were. Searching for comfort wasn't part of his effort. He sighed.

"I… really, I don' remember much aft'r that," Vinny grunted, finally shifting his eyes away from the darkened human figure. "I know I escaped more 'r less alive."

Harold slammed down back to earth. However distracted, he grinned and spoke for the first time in an hour. "So, Mr. Juan. You've revealed the existence of aliens. Anything to say for yourself afterwards?"

Vinny was quiet, disappointed that he didn't quite understand the severity of what he had confessed. Aliens, and he wasn't fazed? He shook his head hesitantly, feeling like a scolded child who had been caught in a bad situation in which the adults just didn't understand the need for it.

Harold leaned back again and scratched his chin, glancing at Vinny's clothes. If he was telling the truth, (but quite frankly he didn't have any need for lying,) the small beige streaks that were on his muscle shirt were burn marks from this strange "Gir" machine. Burned beige from only a passing sweep, and the weapon was no bigger than a laser pointer? Something he could hold in his pocket? It would have to be incredibly powerful, something….otherworldly.

The two men sat there in silence, contemplating the tightly sealed tale that had unraveled, at just a tug on the strings. _Why hadn't Mr. Juan suppressed those memories?_ Too fresh in his mind? To important to forget?

Of course, he _was _in a bad situation at the current time, sitting in a chair with the guard not 3 meters away. Lying would not be permitted, Harold made sure it was explicitly clear from the moment he brought Vinny in. But what the man had told him: aliens existed, they were plotting human experiments, they had already killed an unidentified number of people, artificial intelligence was already possible and invented, and they had terrible computer security… Now, Harold already had an open mind! But that much was almost unbelievable.

But wait. Hadn't he been told this for a long time now? Hadn't he been warned by the very person who he thought to be overenthusiastic, young, naïve?

Everything clicked. Everything. Harold finally understood what was going on, and he wasn't going to let something like that happen right underneath his own nose. He beckoned the guard forward, and whispered quietly something in his ear.

…..

Vinny froze stiffly, watching the exchange between his captors. He saw the guard cock his head to the side, uncomprehending, as Harold exhaled through his teeth. The shadowed form punctuated his frustration with a fist on the table.

Suddenly the guard nodded, and swiftly turned his back to the criminal. He paused, and then headed purposefully away from him. Disappearing, Vinny realized the room he was in was much bigger than he previously imagined. If he glared hard enough, he could finally make out fine outlines of cabinets on the sides of the walls, far behind Harold.

His squinting was interrupted by the beefy guard returning from the night-tainted space. In his hands, he held a rectangular screen with two blue circular hover-panels attached to the thin body. It looked frail, but Vinny knew those kinds of technology well enough to know they were extremely durable. Harold took it from the mean's hands.

Vinny watched as Harold's shadow-hidden face contorted in frustration, the outline moving with his emotions. He took his jacket from the back of his chair and began to wipe at the screen, apparently dusting it off. After it had been cleaned enough for the screen to actually be visible, Harold grumbled under his breath and pressed a large blue button underneath the black surface, it glowing faintly.

Vinny gazed in confusion as the thing booted up, a strange symbol flashing into the screen. It was, again, a light shade of blue, glowing brightly and illuminating the face of Harold at last.

He had a long face, and wasn't a day younger than 50. Creases ran along his skin, and adding his smooth voice gave the impression of a very important and professional man. A small goatee covered the weak chin, and hair was only present on the sides and back of his head. He had harsh eyes and a stubby nose. All in all, he was actually intimidating. Judging by his sitting height, he also was tall. Vinny unconsciously flinched back a millimeter in his chair, wondering and waiting.

"Is it connected?" Harold asked the guard audibly, running his fingers along the sides, as if feeling for cracks or…bugging devices. The guard nodded hesitantly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He too, it seemed, was either intimidated or bound by rules to respect the man sitting before Vinny.

Harold smiled frankly and pressed the button again. He turned the screen towards him, and Vinny lost his view of the strange symbol. Harold's face was lit brighter by the LED, and the man's fingers danced along the screen.

"This ol' thing reminds me of the iTablet, back in the day…" he mumbled, and flicked his index finger upwards like an orchestra conductor, brushing the surface of the screen lightly.

Apparently he found what he was looking for, for he tapped the screen again, and lifted it tentatively into the air. It hovered shakily for a second, then found stability in the muggy air. The symbol flickered back to the screen, and soon a silhouette took form, black with red, circular eyes. The figure seemed to be scribbling something down on a piece of paper, mumbling to itself. But when it realized it was being watched by Harold, it shrieked in surprise.

"OH! A-Agent Darkbootie!" it spoke in shock, recoiling from Harold's stare. He cleared his throat (for it was a male voice) and sat up straight in his chair. He gathered himself and tried to look professional and collected. "H-how are you?"

Harold frowned. "Agent Mothman, I've got a few questions that need to be answered from you."

The silhouette visibly deflated. "Okay," he said uncertainly, clearing his throat again and shuffling in his chair. "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to put my feed on 'un-anonymity mode,' Agent Mothman. There's someone you need to see." Harold said, touching the screen and pressing a small black button on the surface.

Harold then quickly swung the screen to meet Vinny's eyes. The burglar now got a clear look at the silhouette. The head was, in his eyes, unusually large, and the red orbs were so large and unnaturally-shaped that they must have been glasses. A small scythe-like outline protruded from his mess of hair, apparently part of his hairstyle or some weird receiving antenna. It stared eagerly back at him for a minute.

"Agent Darkbootie, I've never met him," he said after a bit. "Are you in an interrogatio-"

"SHUSH, Mothman! He isn't an initiate!"

"Sorry!" the man on the other side said quickly, flinching back. "But, no, I don't know him at all. Why?"

Harold laughed coldly, a sound that was undoubtedly not pleasant for it to be directed at you. "Why? Agent Mothman, I think you know _why_."

'Agent Mothman' was quiet.

Harold lifted an eyebrow and let out a long, slow, and angry breath. "False trails aren't _allowed_ in the Network, Mothman."

The man on the other side gasped in horror. "Darkbootie, you think I'd do that?" But he quickly regained his energy as he launched into a list. "Why? What'd he see? The chupacabra in the City Center Mall, or the ninja ghost in the sewers, or the vampire gerbil, or that wolf-thing that I caught going over the Iowan border, or maybe th-"

Harold turned the screen to himself and whipped up a hand to silence him. "So you didn't lay down a false lead so that we'd believe you about _the spider_?"

The man froze.

"Y-yo-you mean to say?..."

Harold nodded. "Yes, Mothman. Our friend Mr. Juan here was apprehended coming out of the house you told us to keep a watch out for. He had quite a story to tell."

….

Harold finished his sentence and sighed, obviously relieved but ultimately troubled. So Agent Mothman was telling the truth about Mr. Juan; about not being a false trail led by Mothman himself to get attention.

But the troubling part was quite a bigger problem. Mr. Juan was telling the truth. Harold had preferred not to go into the details of Mr. Juan's partner's death. But he couldn't ignore them now. Mothman had just uncovered an alien – Zim, as he called him – an "invader," set to destroy Earth. He had already killed men before. How smart was this Zim anyways? If Mothman, an 11-year-old boy, was able to keep him from getting anywhere with his conquest, Harold was sure that this Zim wasn't the brightest bulb of his race.

But he had killed people! The Swollen Eyeballs were a group dedicated to everything ABOUT cryptids. That included keeping the public safe from the more dangerous types. And the Network wasn't doing their job if they let these slip under their noses any longer. Should he really grant Mothman's request?

No.

No, two men's proof wasn't enough.

He wasn't about to let his employees go there to catch the cryptid Zim. He didn't want to waste valuable lives and manpower. It would be suicide. Of course, Mr. Juan had escaped, but apparently only because his friend Sergio…well, distracted him for a time.

The cryptid Zim wasn't capable of killing humans outside of those who came to him. He was quite the spider, only catching those who dared enter the web. It only need be big enough to catch flies.

Weighing the options still, he twisted the screen around to meet Mr. Juan's eyes. They were glossy, and lost in the conversation.

Harold felt something well up inside him. Pity – pity for this man who had no idea what had taken the life of his friend, who had taken his health, and most likely would be responsible for the loss of his sanity in time.

The scale weighed the options.

But neither of them were light.

Harold's face created a concrete mask, incapable of the outward showing of his pity for Vinny. He reached for the screen again, mumbled an apologetic sentence to Mothman, and said goodbye. Pressing the button that cut the transmission, the screen went dark.

Harold handed it to the guard, and waved him away. The man immediately saw his face and knew.

So Harold sat back down and looked at the man before him. "Mr. Juan," he said quietly, asking for his attention.

Vinny looked at him, not moving his head but only his eyes. It was unnerving to see the lack of effort that he displayed now.

"I'm afraid that there's certain protocol to witnessing an event such as that, Mr. Juan," Harold said after what seemed like a lifetime. Reaching into his pocket, he found what he was looking for. A small metallic chip with a button on the thin side, curved to fit the contours of where it was placed.

Harold swallowed his emotion and stood from his chair, holding the chip between his forefinger and his thumb. He placed it softly on Vinny's forehead, pressing it against his skin with barely force to be found. Vinny inhaled, staring at the chip. He stared Harold in the eyes, brown meeting his again.

"¿Por qué fallecemos?" he whispered.

"Porqué fallecemos."

_Click._

…

_**THE END**_

…

I seem to have finished my first multi-chapter story… with an interpretive ending.

I want to thank the sparse number of you that reviewed. ;A; Just to let you know that means more love for everybody. I really want to thank **heartofstone15**, for being awesome, **Starlight Comet**, for reviewing all those times, **the silenced**, for inspiring me, and of course, Jhonen Vasquez. Without him… well, I wouldn't be writing this now, would I?

There is actually a couple references. One is a really super obscure fanfiction reference. Go read _Z for Zim_ by **the silenced**, okay? The two others… well, you find 'em.

And, oh, how could I forget _**YOU? **_I love you. I'll never forget you all!

-UpsidePickle… signing off.


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